“What processes, practices and circumstances facilitate or hinder the influence and uptake of ACIAR commissioned research within Lao policy contexts?” This was the question of a Small Research and Development Activity funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.
Over the last year I worked with a small group of researchers and Lao research assistants to address this question. We proposed that research, policy and policy-making are peopled processes; polices are designed by people and implemented by people to change the way that people behave; people may be the agent of change and/or the subject of the policy, or both.
Our research methodology was qualitative and largely interpretivist. We utilised mixed social-science methods: literature reviews, ethnography and case studies, all supported by interviews, to explore the research question and address the project’s main objectives which were:
- to better understand the culture of policy-making in Laos
- to provide a summary of determinants and experiences to assist researchers working in Laos to better align research to the policy-making environment, and
- to inform ACIAR of effective pathways and processes for engaging with policy making in Laos.
See the outputs of this work below: